Another Allergy Adventure

There is a new development in our continuing family allergy adventure. Our son has had some asthma type attacks since last August. We’ve been working closely with the doctor trying to track environment and symptoms while attempting to find treatment for the actual asthma type episodes. He has not really responded to natural or conventional treatments.

Then we had an unexpected and curious break through. I asked my mom to keep the kids at our own house for a day (rather than watching them at her house). I thought the kids could use the “down” time and even experience possibly fewer allergens. Grandpa has a dog and they have different trees and plants at their house, you know. My mom told me part way through the day that he was breaking out in a rash. I dismissed it thinking he’d eaten something and it was his typical nickel rash that she was talking about.

When I got home and saw him, I understood why my mom was letting me know he was breaking out. This was new and strange! It looked a lot like hives to me. He seemed mildly bothered by them. He didn’t scratch as long as he was occupied on other things.

Serendipitously, this was at our house! His most “controlled” and familiar environment. I didn’t waste any time wondering and secretly blaming my mom’s house or dog or pine needles or dust or….I was able to start thinking right away of possible causes. All his foods had been normal and stable. I started noting and thinking of other symptoms. Of course, I alerted the doctor of this newest development too.

After a while I began to suspect, like myself, he was reacting to seasonal allergies (aka pollen). I used to occasionally get hives too. So, the new question was how to treat this type of allergy. Is it something in our yard we can rip out? What if it’s in the neighbor’s yard? What if it’s too abundant to eliminate from our home environment? I mean, we do live in the Pacific Northwest! We have lots and lots of plants and trees and flowers.

The doctor asked us to try Benadryl for the hives. This was mostly to check that they were hives and it was a histamine response. It also made for a very very grumpy boy the next day. Benadryl has all types of corn products swimming around in that pink syrup. Our family did not want this to be regular treatment. So we tried the homeopathic hay fever medicine that works well for my husband and I. It seemed to help.

This got us thinking even more. Every single symptom leading up to his asthma type attacks could be pollen allergy. The pieces were starting to fit together! We now really think this is what causes his breathing issues. We have been able to control it with the homeopathic medicine and more recently with a supplement from the doctor. We’re finding the supplement works as a daily stabilizing factor. We now only use the homeopathic stuff when a symptom flares dramatically. I truly think we’ve recently avoided a breathing episode. He started to show symptoms. We tried these new treatments and they resolved.

I also found a website www.pollen.com. It shows you the pollen levels in your area and offers a way to track your own symptoms. I’ve been tracking his symptoms with this and there seems to be a correlation.

Once again I’m amazed at all the tiny, seemingly unrelated, pieces God has place into our lives to make it all work out!